UCLAS was established in the 1980s and became defunct in the late 2000s and Unisa has decided to revive it in response to the growing importance of understanding the Latin America and the Caribbean region in a changing global south and how this impacts on Africa. The IGD is mandated to lead the process of revitalizing the UCLAS in partnership with other stakeholders inside and outside Unisa.

Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega has won his fourth presidential term overall and his third successive term since his return in 2006. The prominent leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front known by its Spanish acronym, FLNS, won to the chagrin of Washington, which immediately said it was "deeply concerned" about this electoral outcome. It cited the fact that Nicaragua had not invited international observers, which the US did not also do for its presidential elections a week later. The real gripe is that Ortega pursues a socialist option for development in this very impoverished country, he speaks out against US policy in Latin America.

The time is ripe for the correction of this deep-seated cognitive injustice committed by dominant discourses suppressing, denigrating, silencing or just neglecting perspectives and world views from outside the Western world. This results in a distortion of world history told only from a Eurocentric angle and thus robbing the readership and listeners of the rich diversity of discourses that have been taking place for centuries emanating also from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and so forth.

Hon. Susan Shabangu, Minister in the Presidency: with responsibility for WomenAmbassador Ben M’Poko, Dean of the Diplomatic CorpsAmbassador Wilfred Roseval, Dean of GRULACRepresentatives of DIRCO, other South African Government Departments and International OrganizationsExcellencies, Colleague Ambassadors and High CommissionersRepresentatives from various organizations and institutions in South Africa, including from the business and Academic CommunityMy fellow JamaicansFriends and well –wishers of JamaicaDistinguished guestsLadies and GentlemenGood evening

The Republic of Peru recently went on polls to choose the captain who will steer up the ship of one of Latin America’s fastest growing economy in what analysts termed a historic election contestation. The current form of government in Peru was established by the Constitution of 1993, which established a Presidential Representative Republican system of rule with multi-party elections. The executive branch of government has the President as the chief of state and head of government. The legislative branch of government on the other hand is vested in the Congress of the Republic of Peru, which is a 130-member unicameral congress which is elected every five years by a universal, secret and direct vote.

Celebrating Africa Day on the 25th May continues to be a major challenge for Afro-Brazilians. After almost 500 years of forced migration (slavery), we have to admit that the majority of Afro-Brazilians do not know a lot about the African continent. Still mythical, idealised and romanticised perceptions of Africa persist in the minds of many in accordance with either their spiritual needs or need for political expediency.

UCLAS was established in the 1980s and gained a high profile through its activities in service of the needs of the government of the day and the publication of its Bi-Annual Journal, the Latin American Report. The centre emerged as a DFA intiative, to advance relations with Latin America through the centre, as well as the element of counteracting the isolation of SA during the 1980s.

UCLAS was conceived as a transdisciplinary centre of research, information and community engagement on political, economic and social/cultural dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of the changing global south and how these impact South Africa and Africa. Its mandate is to promote scholarly research and exchanges, policy engagement, business interactions and cultural contact between South Africa/ Africa and the region.

It became defunct in the late 2000s and since then IGD and Unisa has undertaken steps to revive it in response to the growing importance of understanding the Latin America and the Caribbean region in a changing global south and how this impacts on Africa.

At a bare minimum the revitalization hinges on the mandatory focus on ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’ in arriving at an updated version of the old UCLAS. A bare minimum, because a strong case can be made for nesting an expanded ‘Latin American and Caribbean’ scope within a larger hemispheric ‘inter-American’ context. This is because of the intimate interplay between Central and North America, with particular emphasis on the Mexico-US connection and the ‘Latinizing’ (‘reconquista’) demographic changes these are having on the US. The ‘inter-American’ dimension will become even more pronounced now that the hemisphere is moving into a period of US-Cuban normalization.

The other dimension within a ‘Latin American and the Caribbean’ and ‘inter-American’ context is the importance of the western hemispheric African diaspora. The African diaspora dimension of western hemispheric studies has never received the attention warranted. Indeed, this dimension can even be said to be virtually ‘invisible’ in the study of the Americas. As such, there is no way that a revival of an updated CLAS programme at an African university and especially a post-apartheid South African university can have any credibility unless it has a strong African diaspora dimension.

In historical perspective as setting the stage for contemporary studies, the development of the Americas should be conceptualized as a dialectical trinity in its macro-dimensions: Amerindian-African-European. The conflict and accommodationist interplay between these three macro socio-racial and cultural blocs must be understood as foundational in the making of the Americas. The contemporary political, economic and cultural dynamics of different regions and subregions within Latin America and the Caribbean reflect this history and can be observed in contemporary developments.

Editors

Pieter Rall, Unisa Press, South Africa

SiphamandlaZondi, Institute for Global Dialogue associated with Unisa, South Africa

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